An Everlasting Friendship with Yokohama Science Frontier High School Despite the Distance
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By Athena Siow and Nur Amirah binti Junaidi
The Land of the Rising Sun. Best known for its cutting edge technology and unique culture , Japan never fails to amaze us with its holistic education system, giving emphasis in academic and community building from pre-school level. Therefore, the students of Kolej Yayasan Saad (KYS) are extremely fortunate to have a special and long-lasting friendship with the Yokohama Science Frontier High School (YSFH). The first exchange programme we had with YSFH was on 28 October 2009, where the 2nd year students of YSFH and their teachers visited KYS and shared their Science poster presentations. Then, the KYS Chamber Orchestra went one step further by visiting YSFH in Japan to perform with its Music Club students in 2015. Through this connection, we’ve had many other exchanges to share the passion for science, culture and music.
This year, we held our first virtual exchange programme with YSFH on the 17th of August. Both KYS and YSFH students and teachers met up virtually via Google Meet. We started off with a welcoming speech by two of the YSFH students, Chihiro Kumashiro and Mio Ito, who were the masters of ceremony for the day. Then, the opening speech was given by another student of YSFH, Kouki Saito. Afterwards, the rest of the YSFH students introduced themselves. Some of them stated their hobbies while the others stated what club they were in. Their unique clubs such as the Astronomy Club really piqued our interest. Next, the YSFH teachers and their Vice Principal, Mr Shiro Yoshihara introduced themselves, too. All of them seemed very friendly and cheerful. Then it was our turn to introduce ourselves. After all the pleasantries and introductions, the KYS and YSFH students delivered their presentations. The topics presented were “Introduction to KYS or YSFH ” and “How the Pandemic Affected Our Daily Lives”. Both schools listened carefully to each other’s presentation. What attracted us the most was one of their school facilities which is an observatory dome. They have a gigantic telescope there which they use for astronomy research.
The Q&A session then commenced. Though the air was a little awkward, we were able to exchange details about our respective countries. It was delightful to learn about our differences, and everyone had fun. Up next was the moment we’ve all been waiting for – performance time. The YSFH students stood up and got into their positions. They sang Rasa Sayang! All of us were amazed by their angelic voices and we clapped our hands whilst cheering for them.
Up next, the video of the KYS students singing a Japanese song, Furusato, was presented. The song describes a person who is working in a distant land, expressing their feelings of nostalgia for the hills and fields of their childhood home. The students and teachers from YSFH praised us for the good performance of Furusato.
Sad that the programme had to end so soon, we had our closing speech given by Izzah Airiss. We spent a few minutes having a photography session together taking a screenshot of every one visible on the computer screen. Lastly, we bid our goodbyes to each other and ended the meet.
It is proven that even restrictions as a result of the pandemic were not an obstacle to meet each other. We have the power of the Internet in our hands to strengthen friendships with other schools. It is hoped that more virtual exchange programmes like this will be held in the future.
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